Wide Open, Week 9: Love Your Enemies
Matthew 5:43-47 (NIV)
“You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ 44 But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45 that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. 46 If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? 47 And if you greet only your own people, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that?
Discussion Questions
Rev. Millard was asked by his professor to go to Selma knowing a Boston pastor had just been killed for doing the same thing. He asked himself, "How could I ever ask anyone else to take a risk for God if I couldn't do it myself?" Has there ever been a moment in your own life when faith required that kind of personal risk? What did you do?
The marchers were trained to absorb violence without retaliating — to keep walking and singing no matter what was said or done to them. How do you personally respond when someone attacks you verbally or treats you unjustly? What would it take to respond the way those marchers were trained to?
The woman from Selma walked up to a scared seminary student and said, "You march with me and you'll be alright." Who in your life has shown up in a frightening moment and steadied you — and have you ever been that person for someone else?
The highway patrolman described his conversion as feeling the darkness leave his body and the light of Christ fill him. Is there an area of your own life where you're still holding onto darkness — resentment, bitterness, or hatred — that you haven't fully handed over to God?
Rev. Millard said that in times of conflict we can clearly articulate the sins of those on the other side, but reconciliation only begins when we look inward first. What is the hardest part of turning that lens on yourself rather than on others?
Dr. King wrote that hate can't drive out hate — only love can. Where in your own relationships or community do you see hate being used to fight hate, and what would a love-based response actually look like in that situation?
Dr. King shook a stranger's hand and asked him personally, "What are you going to do for Civil Rights in your ministry?" Rev. Millard suggested King would ask each of us the same kind of question today. How would you answer it — what are you doing to be inclusive, to forgive, to pray for those you'd rather not?
The sermon closed with a moment of silence to confess personal sins before asking God to fill that space with love and forgiveness. Was there something that surfaced for you in that silence — and what would it mean to actually let it go?
Rev. Millard prays the Lord's Prayer several times a day, pausing especially on the line "forgive me my sins as I forgive those who sin against me." How honestly can you pray that line right now — and what would need to change in your heart for it to be fully true?
Stay Connected Each weekday, we share a brief reflection rooted in Scripture and designed to help you connect what we talk about on Sunday to the modern world we navigate every day. Whether we are walking through a specific book of the Gospel or exploring themes from our current sermon series, our goal is to provide a moment of peace, perspective, and prayer to start your day.
Visit our Daily Devotions page to subscribe or read the current series.